The latest national news update from the National Indigenous Radio Service.
Search suspended for last missing man
Officials in Tasmania have finally called off the search for man missing almost three weeks after a boat trip southeast of Hobart went horribly wrong, and cost the lives of his three mates.
The 35-year-old New Zealander, whose identity hasn’t been released, is missing presumed dead. Yesterday police said they planned to suspend the search.
The foursome launched a 4.9-metre fibreglass runabout from a beach at Cremorne on July 31. The alarm was raised when they didn’t return as planned later the same day.
The next day the bodies of Hobart men Magnus Julian Ritter, 34, and Luke William Davies, 32, were found in nearby waters.
The age of the boat, combined with its powerful outboard motor means the craft would have sunk if swamped, investigators said.
WA jobless figure nation’s second-highest
Western Australia’s jobless rate returned to a decade high of 6.3 per cent last month, compared to 5.7 the previous month, in the latest negative economic sign for the state that was until recently the nation’s strongest.
WA now has the second-highest jobless rate in the country among the eight states and territories, with only South Australia faring worse, with its unemployment falling from 7.0 to 6.4 per cent.
The recent Commsec State of the States report rated WA’s current economic performance as seventh, ahead of only Tasmania, while job insecurity was the nation’s highest in a report by Members Equity Bank earlier this month.
Australia’s unemployment rate of 5.7 per cent in July was down from 5.8 per cent, but the increase in employment was all part-time jobs – up 71,600, compared with a fall of just over 45,400 full-time workers.
Scam callers pose as police to get money
Cold scammers are using an elaborate series of calls to fool people into transferring their money into overseas accounts.
South Australian police have warned the initial call is from someone purporting to be from a retail outlet, saying a customer has tried to make an in-store purchase with their credit or debit card.
A follow-up call is then made from someone pretending to be from the fraud area of the potential victim’s financial institution. A third call is then made, supposedly from the police, asking the victim to transfer money to an overseas based account to protect their funds.
Teen aviator to touch down in Australia
Teen aviator Lachlan Smart is just eight days from being the youngest person to fly solo around the world when he touches down in Broome next Friday.
The 18-year-old Queenslander began his record attempt on July 4. He departs Jakarta, Indonesia early on Friday and expects to land in Broome in far north West Australia at about 4pm.
Since leaving Australia, he has touched down in 18 countries and when he completes his journey at the Sunshine Coast on August 27 he will have travelled about 45,000km.
Gordon kills off Qld tree clearing bill
Independent MP Billy Gordon has withdrawn support for his former party’s vegetation management reforms, delivering the Palaszczuk government its first major defeat in Queensland’s hung parliament.
The Cook MP’s vote was crucial in securing the passage of Labor’s divisive tree-clearing legislation, which would reverse the former Liberal National Party (LNP) government’s more relaxed 2013 framework.
Part-way through a marathon debate yesterday afternoon, Mr Gordon released a statement declaring he would not back the changes, saying the proposed vegetation management reforms don’t strike the necessary balance between Indigenous economic development, protecting the environment and supporting farmers.
Big year for earthquakes in Australia
A second earthquake in a week has been recorded off the coast of Queensland, with Geoscience Australia says there’s been numerous quakes in the past 12 months.
The magnitude 5.8 earthquake, about 70km out to sea north east of Bowen yesterday, was the second recorded off the coast of Queensland in a week.
A magnitude 4.4 earthquake occurred off the coast of Bundaberg, 800km south of Bowen, on Saturday.
Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Jonathan Bathgate said the magnitude of the Bowen earthquake was significant but not the biggest in recent years in Australia.
